Mark Humphrey/Associated Press
The gallery was full as the Tennessee House of Representatives met on the opening day of the 108th General Assembly Jan. 8 in Nashville. It's the first time since Reconstruction that Republicans have ruled both chambers with a supermajority — the ability to adopt rules and pass bills without Democratic votes.

Erik Schelzig/Associated Press
A tea party protest in Nashville last month opposed a state-run insurance exchange under the federal health care law. Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has agreed with the protesters, but a larger decision awaits lawmakers: whether to expand Medicaid in the state so that people who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level will be covered.

NASHVILLE — Since the GOP won control of the Tennessee legislature, some of its leaders have chided "the media" for focusing on gun and social legislation that's dominated the debate.

"I am tired of talking about this. Every year we spend an inordinate amount of time on this and I'd love to get this out of the way in February and start talking about jobs and education," Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey said last month, about his compromise "guns-in-parking lots" bill.

Ramsey even criticized the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce last year for its opposition to the bill, which forces employers to let workers keep guns in their locked cars on company property regardless of company policy.

"I realize you put G-U-N in a sentence and the subject becomes emotional, but let me assure you there are issues that affect us more every day than this that we could use your help on," he told the business group.

Gov. Bill Haslam jumped in a couple of days after Ramsey's speech last April, telling a workforce-development forum about his exasperation at the media focus on what he called the "craziest" of bills, while substantial issues like his overhaul of school standards went underreported.

He cited the Democrat-sponsored "Saggy Pants Bill" barring students from exposing underwear or "body parts in an indecent manner," but there were many others sponsored by Republicans that dominated the 2012 legislative session. Bills like the ones banning teachers from discussing gay issues, allowing teachers to question the science behind the theory of evolution, barring such "gateway sexual activity" among teens as hand-holding, and reversing the private Vanderbilt University's anti-discrimination policy for student organizations on campus.

Many serious issues don't get adequate media review, but it would be hard to make the case about a disproportionate focus on gun and social issues given the number and nature of bills lawmakers have already filed as the new two-year term of the General Assembly gears up. After a two-week recess, the assembly reconvenes Jan. 28 to get down to work.

As states outside the South consider new gun restrictions in the wake of the Connecticut school massacre, Tennessee Republicans are moving beyond their four-year-old push to expand gun rights: Bills have also been filed purporting to criminalize federal law officers who try to enforce any new federal gun regulations in the state.

Rep. Joe Carr, R-Murfreesboro, who is considering running for Congress, filed House Bill 42 declaring "Any federal law, statute, rule, regulation, or executive order implemented or executed on or after January 1, 2013, shall be unenforceable within the borders of this state" if it attempts to restrict ownership of a "semi-automatic firearm, firearm accessory, ammunition," or requires any firearm, accessory or ammo to be registered in any manner. It also says any U.S. government employee who attempts to enforce such laws in the state "shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor."

Bills by two other lawmakers would ban any state or local officer from enforcing new gun restrictions. Another bill allows school employees with handgun-carry permits to carry their guns into school.

And another, filed by a Republican freshman, would make secret all information regarding Tennessee's 382,064 gun-carry permit holders, including suspensions and revocations. That bill resurrects an issue last fought three years ago, when legislators decided to keep such information public.

Rep. Steve McManus, R-Memphis, led a House working group this month that heard from business groups on gun issues.

By Thursday, 43 bills were filed in the House and 63 in the Senate (most of them duplicates of their "companion" House bills) and a substantial number of them involve firearms and attempts to alter long-standing social policy.

Sen. Jim Summerville, R-Dickson, filed several of them. Summerville embarrassed Senate Republican colleagues enough that last August they removed him as chairman of the higher education subcommittee after he sent an e-mail to a black lawmaker from Memphis saying "I don't give a rat's ass what the black caucus thinks," and urging her to "share this with your colleagues."

Now Summerville, a part-time history instructor at Austin Peay State University, has filed a series of bills to:

Ban all state colleges or universities from granting any preference and awarding any state-funded scholarships, grants, loans or other financial aid based on "race, gender or ethnicity."

Ban local school districts from any hiring preferences based on race, gender or ethnicity.

Enact an umbrella law that would carry out all of the above in one bill and also apply it to all state and local agencies. He's dubbed it the "Tennessee Civil Rights Initiative Act."

Ban all state higher education institutions from employing "diversity officers;" assigning anyone to duties that include "promoting diversity, equality and inclusion at the institution; assuring implementation of policies with respect to ... compliance with" federal and state laws on diversity and equality, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and "addressing complaints of discrimination and violations of federal and state laws and institutional policies."

Prohibit all state agencies and institutions from compiling or maintaining data by race, gender or ethnicity.

Require the words "Warning: You will probably lose money playing the lottery" on all Tennessee Lottery tickets and advertising." The lottery funds the state's Hope Scholarship program.

House Speaker Beth Harwell said last month that the guns-in-parking lots bill has never been a high priority for the House. "We are all about what we heard from the people on election day: They want a good economy, they want lower taxes, less government and job creation."

As of Thursday, bills had been filed to cut the investment income tax and to exempt tire shredders from sales taxes, along with a constitutional amendment to prohibit any state or local tax on earned income or payrolls. Those bills will definitely lower taxes on those who pay them, and prohibit certain taxes from being enacted, but they may or may not create jobs and shrink government, and no bills were filed yet that expressly purport to help create jobs.

But the 2013 legislature will consider several substantial issues before it adjourns sometime this spring. Among them:

School vouchers, which allow tax money to pay for private school tuitions. Haslam wants vouchers means-tested (limited to income levels he has not specified) and limited to students from low-performing schools to transfer. Others favor a broader approach.

A proposed state constitutional amendment by Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, for appointment of appellate court judges by the governor subject to legislative confirmation is up for a legislative vote to put it on the 2014 ballot for voter ratification.

A bill authorizing wine sales in grocery stores, back for its sixth year and its best chance of passage, but still likely to fail despite the backing of both speakers.

A $30 billion-plus budget proposal to be unveiled Jan. 28 by the governor. It will include a long list of fiscal issues affecting Tennesseans, including how much public college tuition will rise and the likelihood of another quarter-cent cut (to 5 percent) in the state sales tax on food.

Ticket legislation, an effort by Ticketmaster and several sports and entertainment venues to rewrite laws that will impact people buying and selling tickets.

The possibility of a third year of legislation affecting the Memphis-Shelby County school districts merger and the efforts by the suburban cities to create new school districts, in response to a federal court's ruling that delayed new suburban districts.

Medicaid expansion under the federal health reform law. Kelsey has filed Senate Bill 1 that prohibits Tennessee from participating in the provision that would expand Medicaid eligibility to people with incomes up to 138 percent of poverty level, but hospitals are pushing for the expansion and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a conservative hero, last week stunned fellow Republicans by saying Arizona should participate in the expansion. The additional costs will be fully funded by the federal government for three years, then phase down to 90 percent.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell are pursuing a joint city-county legislative package in Nashville focused on education, crime, health, jobs and blight, including an expansion of prekindergarten classes.